


cupid shuffle

by slingshot



Category: GOT7, 드림나이트 | Dream Knight (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crack (because it's Dream Knight), Humor, M/M, Meta, Multi, Worldbuilding, cupid!Mark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 00:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12971478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slingshot/pseuds/slingshot
Summary: The dream knights enter Joo In Hyung’s life the same way as any cheesy male love interest character is introduced in an idol drama, sauntering into her classroom with perfectly coiffed hair and smirks on their flower boy faces. Mark could almost hear T-Max crooning Almost Paradise in the distance.(An explanation and side plot of what really went down in Dream Knight.)





	cupid shuffle

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone should have the honor of watching the award winning Dream Knight at least once.

The dream knights enter Joo In Hyung’s life the same way as any cheesy male love interest character is introduced in an idol drama, sauntering into her classroom with perfectly coiffed hair and smirks on their flower boy faces. Mark could almost hear T-Max crooning Almost Paradise in the distance.

 

They are supposed to go incognito as high school students as In Hyung’s classmates but with JB freezing Jenny (momentarily), Jackson overheating a girl’s phone better than Samsung and Mark creating lesbians in their first encounter with In Hyung, their original plans go south.

 

So Mark does what he does best in awkward situations: he *dramatically* flips away.

 

Initially, the dream knights’ powers seem trivial in In Hyung’s situation. But what humans do not know is that the appearance of the dream knights are based on the perception of these selected humans. Of course, Mark & co. look like pretty boys with soft, harmless powers in the eyes of one Joo In Hyung. The Moon only assigns them people who are truly in need of help. Mark is not sure how the whole selection process works too because he overslept for the job orientation meeting on that matter. He just shrugs and goes with the flow.

 

So the dream knights will appear in their pretty idol boy guises whenever In Hyung’s in trouble, which is like, always.

 

Their mission cover starts out as stuffed doll key chains from In Hyung’s childhood with an _uncanny_ resemblance to their disguises. Dolls coming to life? Mark’s seen that horror movie before.

 

"Wait, we’re going to be these dolls?” Youngjae tugs onto the cotton sleeve of his cloth doll replicate. Jackson barks out a laugh and proceeds to pull the sleeve of doll Mark’s shirt down, exposing its shoulder then wiggling his eyebrows at the real Mark. Youngjae sticks out his tongue in disgust.

 

-

 

Mark may have the power of love, but it feels all too familiar yet foreign to him at the same time. But Mark is not a golden haired blue eyed bow wielding cherub (maybe that one time he had pink hair) or a hunched old man under the moonlight with a pack of red strings, contrary to popular belief. He goes by many names: Cupid, The Matchmaker, et cetera. Labels don’t matter to Mark.

 

The concept of real love is actually more complex than a connection & floating pink hearts. Not that anyone would understand that except Mark. His power shoots out like a white strand of twine, electrifying the two people at the same time.

 

 _“You have it easy!”_ Mark hears it all the time. The other beings do not understand that love is a complex equation that Mark just helps to solve. He cannot create love, genuine or superficial, if there is no seeds planted deep already in the hearts of humans. He is just the humble gardener of a garden with the potential of blossoming. A flourishing garden does not occur easily. Some people let their gardens overrun without care, others opt for a greenhouse with thick glass walls.

 

There are certain things beyond Mark’s sphere of power and knowledge. Mark leaves that to Destiny instead. She goes by many names. These days, she has taken a liking to calling herself _Fate_. The last time Mark saw her was many moons ago on a mission in Hong Kong with Jackson where she looked towards both of them in interest. Her cherry red lips lifted upwards into a smile after surveying them. Mark’s eyes never leave the warmth and understanding in her pupils. She had nodded as though in approval, breeze blowing strands of her black hair across her face. Then she disappeared after a blink, leaving the wind caressing Mark’s cheeks.

 

The other beings pointed fingers and mocked Mark for they underestimate the extent of the true power he wields. These beings have powers of natural elements such as fire, ice and wind. There are other beings scattered around the world have various powers like controlling plants, animals, earth and metal. Mark has even heard of younger beings holding power over technology and electricity, elements of the new age. But they all characterize power by the physical damage they could cause, tangible results to show off and feed inflated, immortal egos.

 

 _Eros, philia, storge, ludus, mania, pragma, philautia, agape_. Mark was not around when the Greeks outlined the different types of love experienced by all beings but he does control of all of them. Feelings are essentially what make humans _alive_. So far, Mark’s the only well known being to be able to manipulate the humans’ feelings and actions. Love is not simple. It comprises of affection, sentiment and lust. Under the umbrella term of ‘love’, they make humans beings tick. It makes them _irrational_. What good is a wildfire to the hurricane of emotions inside a rash, lovesick human? A little manipulation requires considerably less effort than destroying property. Wars have broke out across history simply due to love. The heart will always win over the mind.

 

All of this power resides within Mark’s fingertips. The rest of the beings never really understand or learn, making fun of him because he does not speak much. Apex predators in the wild are always cloaked in dull colors, lying in silence.

 

-

 

Justifying Your Problem Exactly, or JYPE for short, was the association for ‘dream knights’. (They could not go with ‘guardians’ as a job title because it was too plebian and also, copyrighted.) Mark does not remember how he got roped into working for spiritual Make-A-Wish but JYPE had employee dental benefits and he got to meet Jackson along the way. Although he does cringe internally every time he has to fill in the words ‘dream knight’ under the job title section when filing insurance claims.

 

Well, you win some and lose some in life.

 

-

 

Mark sees In Hyung daydreaming about Junior, another part of his power. The pink hearts bubble around In Hyung. And if Jackson later pushes her literally onto Junior’s path, Mark would say he neither confirms nor denies this information of In Hyung’s infatuation.

 

How does a high school girl manage to live on her own in a trailer with an outdoor bed is truly beyond Mark’s knowledge but hey, at least the bed is big enough for him to cuddle with Jackson. 

 

Naturally, Joo In Hyung freaks out at her four ‘teenage’ male schoolmates sleeping on her property but Mark just puts on the mismatch of his best sleazy smile and dreamboat eyes and goes, “How can a pervert be this good-looking?”

 

Youngjae picks up the conversation and follows, “This isn’t our first time sleeping together”. In Hyung just flails her arms irritatedly in response. She still befriends them anyway.

 

Mark has no idea what kind of school Joo In Hyung goes to where they allow Jenny to wander around with a pink bob and Jackson gets away with wearing Timberland boots instead of normal sneakers like the rest of the student population. Times must be changing, Mark muses as he relies on his skateboard around the school campus.

 

In Hyung falls down again, JB flips one time and Mark silently judges JB, the dream knights get into a fight with high school girls hundreds of years younger than them and Mark get called an octopus as an insult. All in a day’s work for a dream knight, truly. I guess you learn something new everyday on the job, Mark thinks.

 

“She could’ve summoned the four horsemen instead.” JB scoffs. Mark nods in agreement.  

 

- 

 

JB almost kisses In Hyung, but Mark is not too sure because he has never seen someone look so wooden doing so.  

 

Mark has been around humans enough to know how this will plan out. JB is not the person he has seen in In Hyung’s romantic thoughts. However, he is keeping an eye out for JB.

 

For Mark’s powers only affect humans. 

 

-

 

“Why do love & fire end up together? Shouldn’t it be fire & ice as yin and yang?” Mark asks The Moon. There will not be heat without the cold, 2 opposites of the coin. Logically, Jackson and JB should be together. Not Jackson and him, certainly. The Moon simply smiles cryptically as always.

 

“What did you ask the Moon?”

 

“Nothing important.” Marks smiles at Jackson. Mark circles him with his arms and rests his chin on Jackson’s shoulders.

 

“Well, I thought he would have answers for JB’s situation with In Hyung.” Jackson clearly bothered by the turn of events.

 

G.O.T had found out their real identities when Youngjae had walked into a fountain, returning him to cloth doll keychain form. Maybe the dream knights have not been _that_ good at their keeping up their mission cover but Mark digresses.

 

Junior melodramatically tells them that dream knights are born of despair and will die because of happiness, warning them to not get attached to their master aka In Hyung. He regales them with his tragic villain backstory of having to pay the price of turning into a human by betraying his mission. Basically, they cannot save In Hyung’s life since none of them have healing powers to treat her medical condition.

 

Junior’s speech seems to have the exact opposite effect on JB who had declared he is willing to die for In Hyung. Mark wants to throw a phone at JB’s thick skull because JB is so.hung.up on In Hyung due to her sweet cooing that he was her favorite doll and she had kissed his cotton-sewn lips. He had thought JB was more professional than this. And to think people still look down on Mark’s powers of love.

 

JB was worried that In Hyung might die but JB also probably skipped protocol training where you are not supposed to get attached to your mission. Youngjae had to the one who put the nail on the coffin by saying the most logical and natural thing, “All humans will die, and she will die eventually.” Clearly, JB had not agreed and physical blows had happened. At this rate, JB had already violated 10 different Workplace Code of Conduct and Ethics.

 

Things really do not go the way Mark envisioned when Junior starts dating In Hyung just to manipulate JB. Alas, In Hyung realizes that she likes JB instead but Junior has a miraculous change of heart and genuinely wants to date In Hyung now. It’s a rightful mess and Mark thinks Youngjae was right about this whole matter. Mark is an agent of love but he cannot help but feel bad for Junior, having been on the receiving end of unrequited love twice. He makes the dire mistake of looking into Junior’s thoughts and finds surprisingly the red tendrils of _lust_ and the lighter hues of clouds of _liking_ curled around the image of JB.  

 

_Oh no._

 

Hugging Jackson in his arms tighter, Mark groans thinking of the amount of paperwork he has to do for this mission. He really was not paid enough for this shit.

 

-

 

”We should call ourselves Markson.”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“Humans call it couple names. A ship. ”

 

Mark lets out a chuckle. Mark does sometimes wonder what it is like to be human. All beings like him do. What would it be like to meet human Jackson and fall in love with him just like the process Mark carries out on his duties? Would they still be together after a long time like this or would their love crumble to dust? When you’ve been around for a years, decades, like Mark, you tend to think about things like these.

 

Bambam had tempted Mark with desire to be human, to feel _alive_. What makes a human different from the dream knights when they are both living and breathing beings? Mark has a heart too, a physical organ embedded beneath ivory bones in the cavity of his chest. Junior had chosen to become human because he wanted to experience love too; the age-old tale of the young naïve mermaid sacrificing her beautiful voice to be with a human on land. Evidently, the sacrifice does not seem to be paying off.

 

Mark had met Jackson on a rainy night and Mark had provided shelter for him. Jackson would list out the chronological time of their meeting right down to the exact second and make a fuss when Mark proclaims he does not recall. Mark intentionally hums and haws, inciting a response out of Jackson purely for entertainment. When you have been together for ages, the dates and years all meld together. But he does recall the way Jackson had looked: large, brown eyes peering at him under wet, dripping lashes.

 

Mark would not label what they have as ‘dating’. Humans came up with that term, the same way they have to give a name to everything. They hate vagueness the most, the fear of the undefined.

 

Romantic love without passion is nothing, Mark thinks. Jackson embodies passion, enthusiasm and happiness. He is a bright burning flame in Mark’s eyes. Maybe that is why Mark remains a moth gravitating towards Jackson's everlasting flame. Jackson is a blinding phoenix that brings light to his being, the way Mark’s life has not been quiet since Jackson entered it. The way Jackson’s smile lifts up the entire room and has Mark’s stomach fluttering like the same way it did back on that rainy night. Mark feels _alive_ with Jackson.

 

Jackson is one of the few who understand the extent of Mark’s power. Mark knows that he is not just a smart mouth. Mark also knows that somewhere within Jackson, there is a _fear_. Mark may or may not have enquired about Jackson from Destiny herself in the beginning of their relationship.

 

It is not just the fear of their relationship, but also the fear of Mark himself. If Mark were to think harder and dig deeper, it is the fear that Mark is the predator and he, the prey. It is the primal fear that the lesser being will have of a greater being.

 

The fear itself is not present on the surface but Mark thinks that Jackson has it wrong, that he should not fear Mark this way. Mark should be fearful of him, not the other way around.

 

What’s scarier than someone with the keys to Cupid’s own heart?

 

-

 

“Sometimes, I think you shot Jackson on purpose with your arrow.”

 

“You cold hearted bastard. I suppose you froze people when you realized they were getting too close for comfort, cactus man!” Jackson yells in Mark’s defense. Jaebum baulks at the nickname. 

 

“Don’t worry, I gave Mark my heart quite willingly. Well, that is if I actually had a heart.” Jackson snorts.

 

Youngjae gags.

 

I would say the same for me, Mark thinks.

 

After this mission, they have the rest of eternity to figure that out.

**Author's Note:**

> Notes:
> 
> The old man under the moonlight is known as Yue Lao, the deity of marriage and love in Chinese mythology. He carries red strings to tie connections between romantic partners. Or tentatively, the origin of the ‘red string of fate’ fic trope. 
> 
> -
> 
> im on twitter @bloodirises


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